


Miscalculation

by LadyKG



Series: Obito's (mis)adventures in Death Note [3]
Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga), Naruto
Genre: 'Abandon'-verse, Crossover, Gen, LxObito, Obito is an emotional mess, Obito is captured at the start of chapter 5, Pre-Slash, Reveals, and things shift a bit because of that, but we love him, do not copy to another site, like always, may or may not be a one-shot so will stay one for now, so read that first for this to make sense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 09:05:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18518272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyKG/pseuds/LadyKG
Summary: He'd never used the jutsu before, but he was pretty sure this wasn't a side-effect. He took a step towards an alley, because getting away just became his top priority. But before he could even fully put his weight into the step a splitting pain worked its way from his eye through his entire body. 'Not good,' was all he could think.A ‘what if’ situation for my fic ‘Abandon’ where Obito gets caught after bringing Ukita back to life.





	Miscalculation

**Author's Note:**

> So I thought it would be pretty interesting if Obito’s identity as the Akatsuki was revealed sooner, and well, this seemed like the most plausible moment, because I honestly don’t think Obito would have revealed himself willingly… Anyway, hope you all enjoy this nice little hypothetical ^^ A lot of it focuses on Obito and his feelings because well… I love him? And he just… he’s easy for me to write in a way not a lot of characters are... so it’s nice to be able to really get into his head ^^
> 
> Also, for a bit of reference – this happens during chapter 5 of Abandon

Obito stumbled as he pulled himself to his feet. His eye burned a steady throb through his coils, making his head pound with each breathe he took in. The blatant show of weakness had his mind reeling, instincts screaming at him that this was _wrong,_ and it would get him _killed_ or worse. Not only because he shouldn’t be this disoriented after only bringing back three souls, but because he was still, for all intents and purposes, in ‘enemy’ territory. What was more, he found that his reserves were adequately full. Nowhere near drained enough to elicit such a reaction – which meant something else was going on, and he had no idea _what._ Which only served to worry him more. But he had little time to ponder this dilemma, as he could hear the blaring sirens closing in on his position. Looking behind him, he found a line of buses carrying what he could only assume to be this world’s version of ANBU headed straight towards the broadcasting station. And, consequently, straight towards _him_. A wanted criminal. He grit his teeth – this was just _perfect_! Just what he needed on top of the sudden rolling nausea that had his throat constricting.

He took a step towards an alley, because getting away just became his top priority. But before he could even fully put his weight into the step a splitting pain worked its way from his eye through his entire body. Making him choke back a cry of pain as it sent him to a knee, one hand flying out to stop himself from falling further to the ground while the other slide under his mask and covered his mouth as bile rose in the back of his throat. _‘Not good.’_ Was all he could think, before the pain hit him again. He choked on another groan as his vision swam. He brought his hand from the ground and fisted it into his hair, careful not to dislodge the wig as his head pounded.

“Obito?” Rin asked in concern, a hand fell onto his shoulder and for a moment Obito wanted to snap at her to not touch him, but he bit back the words. She was only trying to help. “Obito, you need to go!”

He grunted out what he thought was an agreeing sound, but even just starting to push to his feet left his muscles screaming their protests. What the hell was happening? He’d read up on this jutsu and this was nowhere near in the description of possible outcomes or backlashes to the user – chakra exhaustion and death had been mentioned, but he was suffering from neither. With a shaking breath to try and steady himself and clear his head he pushed himself to stand once again, closing his eyes against the sudden vertigo it induced.

The sound of footsteps behind him stopped any further attempts to move, not that he was even sure they’d succeed if he tried. “Don’t move!” A voice shouted, the noise far too loud for Obito’s liking in that moment. Really, did they _have_ to yell?

“Obito, what’s going on?” Rin’s concern was a welcome balm to the frustration building fast and hot inside him, but it did little to actually stop it.

“Put your hands up and turn around slowly,” the same voice commanded, still far too loud and annoying.

Obito took a breath as he processed the situation. As the click of metal – guns – and the flash of lights invaded his senses. Couldn’t he have caught a break? Really, he just brought three people back from the dead, couldn’t these people just let him go?

“I said hands up and turn around!”

Apparently not.

Slowly, he raised his arms. He’d comply for now. At least, until his body decided that functioning was something it remembered how to do properly, and he could pull himself into kamui. He doubted these people would be too hard to keep from removing his mask, as it was. But as he took a step to turn he felt the world spin, the sudden dizziness making him stumble as waves of nausea had him bending over, mask tipped back enough to let him dry heave without getting any spit on the inside. “Fuck,” he said with feeling, trying to center himself but failing miserably, even with Rin running a hand through his hair in an attempt to sooth whatever was happening.

He reached for kamui out of instinct alone as a hand other than Rin’s grabbed his arm. Reached for his chakra, for _anything,_ but the pain that ripped through him at doing so left him gasping for breath. Another hand took hold of his other arm and Obito entertained the idea of twisting out of their rather pathetic hold and fighting his way out of this with his hands alone, but the fact his body wasn’t reacting properly meant the idea was nothing more than an idle thought.

An ANBU-wanna-be stopped in front him while the two at his sides forced him into a standing position. With a scowl that these fools couldn’t even see he met their gaze head on.

“You’re coming with us.”

“ _So_ scary,” he tried to sneer out, but it came breathless and far less insulting than he would have liked.

He didn’t even bother trying to dodge the strike to his head. Welcomed the bliss of darkness, even. This world didn’t have a single prison or cell that could contain him, after all, and if L found out… Well, he could still help with tracking Kira. He’d just be freer to do it as illegally as he’d like.

The next time he woke it was to the feeling of cuffs on his wrists and ankles. And the rather disappointing sensation of cool air against his bare face. Seemed like they couldn’t resist removing the mask, he internally snorted. Not that he could blame them, really. He would have done the same – except, maybe he would have replaced it and then made a show of taking it off once his captive was awake. It would at least add the drama of the entire situation, if nothing else.

Still, even being awake he didn’t let himself freeze. Didn’t let his breathing stutter. Let his other senses try and take in his surroundings instead. The sound of cars outside was the first noise he registered, regardless of how dull it was. No. Not dull, but far away. The second was a low shuffle, soft enough to let him know it wasn’t in his immediate presence – another room, perhaps. Useful information, but his chakra was be most useful, if only because letting it out of his normal control would alert Rin that he was awake.

“Obito?”

He didn’t let himself show his relief at hearing her voice.

“You were taken back to the hotel room. They took your mask and eye-patch…” she trailed off slightly, as if thinking over the best way to tell him. “Obito, you’ve been asleep for at least a day, and L hasn’t left the room, and the others weren’t here when we arrived.”

She went on to describe the room. The restraints. The lighting. Everything and anything that could possibly be useful if he needed to escape with minimal chakra use or without his sharingan. He listened to each bit of information while repressing a sigh. Tucked it behind his teeth and _thought._

They haven’t killed him yet – although he supposed that wasn’t something to expect in this world – or locked him away. At least, not _really._ So they wanted something. Probably to know why he saved who he did and _how._ But that wasn’t the most pressing problem. Restraints or no, he could escape easily. What was concerning was his reaction to the jutsu and the fact he didn’t understand what it meant. He hadn’t reacted like this when he’d tried the other rinnegan techniques, which meant it was specific to this one. Concerning, but Obito could work with it if he needed to. (And well, he sort of _needed to._ ) At least now he knew what to expect. Knew and could plan for it if needed.

Hopefully, his mind whispered, he wouldn’t. But you never know what might happen, so it was best to be prepared.

He let himself feign sleep for another minute or so as he worked through these thoughts and potential escape routes before letting himself ‘wake up’. Letting out a soft groan as he tried to open his eye – which, sadly wasn’t entirely fake – he made a show of furrowing his brows in confusion and tugging at his restraints. The room was far too bright for his liking, even as he knew it really _wasn’t_. Truly, this jutsu was going to cause problems. He breathed through the pain, letting his eye – only one, because they may have taken his eyepatch off but that didn’t mean they’d actually looked at his rinnegan – adjust as his vision focused on the other figure in the room.

Rin had truly done the room justice with her description – one door, windows at his back but covered with curtains. Two chairs and no other furniture. Not the worst situation, all things considered. But that didn’t mean he _liked_ it.

“You’re awake,” L said, voice deceptively calm. There wasn’t a single overly-sweet food in sight, which meant that he was taking this far more seriously than his demeanor let on. Inconvenient, if expected.

Obito opened his mouth to reply but paused. Paused because the look in L’s eyes filled his throat with guilt so thick it stole any ability to actually speak. Guilt because Obito _knew_ that look. Knew it so well.

Betrayal.

For a moment Obito entertained the idea of looking away, of closing his eyes to the emotion that was far too obvious in those grey orbs. But he didn’t. Took a breath instead and held his head high. There was no backing down now – no changing what had already happened. He had long since learned his lesson about understanding potential consequences and this was always a possibility when he joined the investigation. Being discovered. Not that he had truly thought it _would_ happen, especially not like this, but the thought had crossed his mind. It was more shocking how badly he wanted to explain himself to L, to say sorry or that it was for a good cause, that he had his reasons for breaking his trust. Shocking because he was a shinobi, damn it, and this was par for the course.

Perhaps it was this world. It made him let his guard down. Made him think that perhaps things would be different here – that with there civilian natures and no working knowledge of shinobi he would get away with it all. Clearly he was wrong.

“You’re the Akatsuki.” It was a statement. No evidence needed because all the evidence was Obito himself.

“I am.” He tipped his head in acknowledgement. Tried for detached. Tried for unmoved by the situation, but he couldn’t really say whether or not he succeeded.

L brought his hand to his mouth to bite on his nail, “You’re after Kira. Why?”

“You don’t want to know how I brought Ukita and those officers back to life?” He raised a brow. Seriously, one would think that’d be the most immediate concern.

“Will you tell me?” L countered, rising to his feet and moving to stand in front of him, forcing Obito to tip his head back to continue meeting his eyes. Good. It would be best if he was close for what Obito was about to do.

“Are the cameras in here recording?”

Because it was a simple decision to make. There were only three outcomes to this really – he tells L nothing and leaves, continuing to track down Kira on his own, or, he tells L everything and the man either accepts it or doesn’t. Three outcomes.

“Yes.”

“Then no.”

L’s face remained impassive at that declaration, but his eyes flickered towards what Obito assumed was one of said cameras. He thought for a moment before speaking again, words carefully selected, “And if only Watari was watching?”

Obito paused and actually considered the idea. If what L was saying was true then… well, it wouldn’t be so bad for Watari to know, because Obito doubted that L would keep this from him anyway. “Is he really the only one?”

Grey eyes met his for a long moment, as if calculating the risks of answering that truthfully, if at all. “Yes.”

He’d spent a life time knowing when someone was lying. Spent a lifetime picking out the truth and knowing. Having the sharingan helped. But here and now he didn’t need it to tell. Didn’t need it to know the truth. (Wasn’t sure he would have cared if he did.)

Still. It settled something in him when Rin spoke up with a simple, “He’s telling the truth.”

It was a simple decision to make. There were only three outcomes to this, really, and Obito… well, he was _selfish._ There were three outcomes and all he really wanted was one of them, even if every instinct in him – born of years as a shinobi – told him to escape. Told him that it was the best choice. The _only_ choice. He shoved that reality down. Pushed it away and drew up his own because he was _selfish._ And if life as a shinobi had taught him anything else it was that there were no second chances in situations like this. There was no coming back if he left. And damn it all, he wanted to believe that he could stay. That L would let him. Because for some reason, some _how,_ along the way he became attached to these people. Had made them into friends of sorts and grown to care for them. Made his home out of this investigation and the people partaking in it and he was _selfish._

So it was far too easy to let his sharingan flair to life. Far too easy to break free of the cuffs, to grab hold of L’s arm even as his eyes went wide with shock and he tried to move back.

Far too easy.

He never really gave much thought to how disorienting kamui would be for those who hadn’t experienced it before. Especially someone who wasn’t exactly expecting it, nor even had chakra. But, well, he thought that L was handling the entire situation fairy well given all he did was stumble out of Obito’s reach and look around with wide-eyed disbelief.

“What is this?” L said, voice strong despite the look of panic and calculation rising fast over his features.

“Kamui.” Obito licked his lips, “I’m… well, you’ve read some of Naruto.” He opened his left eye, purposefully let the rinnegan be seen for the first time since arriving in this world. “I’m Uchiha Obito, leader of the Akatsuki.”

L stared at him for a long moment, before pinching his arm hard enough to make him wince. Obito watched with a frown as he then looked around as if expecting things to suddenly be different. Another moment passed and then L promptly slapped his hands against his cheeks hard enough to that the sound of it seemed to echo off the grey pillars around them. Unconsciously, Obito took a step forward, hand reaching out as if to stop L from doing it again. He stopped himself, pulling back and letting his hand fall to his side – there was no saying whether or not the gesture would be accepted, after all.

“This isn’t a dream,” L said as he opened his eyes once more, having closed them against the sudden pain.

“No,” Obito confirmed, “it’s not.”

“Why did you take me here?”

Obito blinked at the questions, opening his mouth for an answer that he didn’t have. Why _did_ he bring L here? Because it would convince the detective that he meant no harm? No. No, he could have done that back in the room. No. “Proof,” he settled on, because it was as close to the truth as he could understand. Yes. Proof that he was who he said he was. Proof that he really was from another world, and that what he was about to tell L was the whole truth. Proof of all that and more, even if he couldn’t _say_ that.

L seemed to understand, nonetheless, because of course he did, “You used the rinnegan to bring them back.”

“Yes.”

“And the news anchors, why not save them?”

He would like to say the question didn’t affect him. Would like to say that it had no cause to affect him, and therefore it _didn’t._ But it did. It made him freeze, lips parting as they tried to form words – excuses, all of them – when his lungs refused to breathe. Right. He’d forgotten that they’d died as well. That, they too, were victims of Kira’s newest killing spree, and he hadn’t done a damn thing to change that. It would have been better if the guilt he felt in that moment was solely for them. Would have made him feel even the slightest bit more human if the guilt didn’t taint itself with self-hate and the thought that he should be better than this. Some of it was reserved for the lives lost, but not nearly enough. No, the larger part focused on the fact he had simply not thought of them, not in the moment of saving his teammate, nor after. Not until L asked about it. And even now, he didn’t feel sadness at their loss or even at the fact he could have prevented it. Felt _nothing._ Felt like he should, but didn’t, and felt lost because of it. Felt guilt at feeling none. Instead he felt sadness for the fact he failed. Failed Naruto. Because if he truly was as good as the boy seemed the think then he would have saved them and wouldn’t have needed to think of him and Sasuke in order to save those police officers.

It would have been automatic.

Obvious.

Instinctual.

But it _wasn’t._

Truly, where was all that progress he thought he had been making in repenting for the past? Where had it all gone?

“Obito,” Rin said, “it’s alright.”

But no. It _wasn’t_ alright. He didn’t even spare them a thought. How could he possibly be better, be the person Naruto thought he was, when he wasn’t able to think of everyone? Couldn’t see every person, at least not as he should be able to. Because for all that his push for the red-moon plan had twisted into wanting peace for all, wanting no child soldiers, and seeing the wrong in the shinobi world and the hypocrisy… For all that he understood and wanted the world to be a better place, he wanted it to be that way _for_ those he considered precious. Not for the benefit of the whole, not _really._ And that came through most obviously in times like these.

And he wanted to be Hokage? How laughable a dream that was.

 _‘Show me how you save the world!’_ Rin had said that to him, years and years ago. When everything about the life of a shinobi was still so bright and shiny and the worst injuries he had gotten were some cuts and bruises – healed easily by her care. Rin had said that, and for the longest time he thought he was doing just that. Showing her how he would save the world from itself. Make it a better place, quite literally. Thought that the illusion would save them all, stop the wars and the deaths. It seemed that coming to the realization that it wouldn’t still didn’t make him understand how to _actually_ do so.

Besides, how could he possibly save a world that wasn’t even his own? He didn’t _belong_ here, no matter that he couldn’t leave.

How could he possibly save the world, when his world wasn’t the _whole_ world but a handful of people in it?

 _‘Having everyone close to me really makes me happy! And that’s enough to give me power!’_ Naruto’s raging voice burst into his head. Maybe, he thought as the memory of the blonde echoed in his mind, saving his precious people was the _point._ Maybe, saving the world simply came along with it.

 _‘Ah,’_ he thought, the realization building in him, _‘so that’s it.’_

Still. Even with this new perspective he needed to give an answer. Needed to explain, if only a little, why he hadn’t thought to save them. And, well, how could he possibly explain all that he had just thought through? How could he put it into words?

“I saved Ukita because he’s my teammate,” he started with, let himself taste the truth of the words as they passed over his tongue. “The other two were circumstantial.” He gave a wry smile, “I’m not a hero.”

There.

It was… close enough.

“Then why join the investigation?”

“What?”

“Heroes help people,” L said, simple and factual. “Why join the investigation if not to help people?”

“You don’t have to be a hero to help people.”

L’s lips twitched into something of a smile, eyes sparking with interest, but he said nothing. So obviously waiting for an answer to his question.

Obito held back a sigh, “I joined to protect those I care about.” He looked down for a moment, working through the thoughts rushing through his head with care. Kira was strikingly similar to him, all things considered. Because ridding the world of those who would harm others, striking fear in people’s hearts so they wouldn’t commit crimes, was something he himself would have thought to do. Creating a new world. One without crime, but at the cost of so many lives – a small price to pay because these people have already hurt others, because these people are the ones breaking the peace. Yes. He and Kira were similar, but he’d had the chance to grow out of such ideologies. “And because peace built on fear isn’t true peace.”

“And the Akatsuki?”

Obito nearly snorted. This answer was far easier to find, “It wasn’t my idea. I wanted to keep a low profile until I could find a way back to my dimension when I met-.” He cut himself off. There was very little chance that Hisao and Cho would appreciate him revealing their names – aliases or not. “When I met some friends. It was their idea.” Besides, it really was a good way to start repenting for all that he had done before.

“You’re trying to go back?” L asked, his tone odd in a way that Obito couldn’t really place.

“I- yes.” He blinked, a frown tugging on his lips, “Shouldn’t I be? I mean, I don’t really belong here.”

L stared at him long enough and with enough intensity that Obito felt the urge to squirm. He resisted, if only because it was _confusing._ Why would L care if he was trying to return – not that he had given it much thought recently. Or, even really tried for that matter. The Kira investigation was far too interesting to just abandon. (At least, that was what he told himself.)

“I don’t think I can go back,” he blurted out as the silence started to stretch. “It’s like throwing myself at a wall. A wall that… that punches back,” he said, giving L a look that urged him to understand.

“I see.” L said, slow, as if he was still placing all the pieces together, “Will you stay with the investigation then?”

His breathe caught in his throat, even as he fought to make sure the hope he felt wasn’t shining too bright in his eyes, “Will I be welcome?”

“The others don’t know, and…” for the first time L seemed almost unsure, _hesitant_ to say whatever was on his mind, “and with your skill set catching Kira will be easier.”

Obito had spent his entire life spotting liars. Knowing when someone was covering up the truth. Knowing when they were telling one truth so they wouldn’t say another.

But knowing didn’t mean he had to say anything about it.

“Then I’ll stay.”


End file.
